Administration, public still at impasse over what merits deletion, censorship

While stationed in Los Angeles for an internship, Brandon Allen commented on SIUC’s Facebook page with a question for the university about the labor negotiations.

Ten minutes later, his comment was gone.

Comments from Allen, a junior studying advertising, along with many from alumni, parents and students disappeared from the university’s Facebook page late Wednesday. The deletion of comments followed a posted letter from Chancellor Rita Cheng assuring students that university operations would continue as normal should any of the four unions go on strike.

Allen said his question, which got three "likes" and one comment before it was removed, simply asked, "If the teachers we pay to come to school aren’t in class, why are we paying tuition?"

Allen said he never received a response or explanation and instead was blocked from commenting on the page again.

"The bigger issue is that it was not handled professionally. There’s a certain element of professionalism expected with administrators," he said. "It’s interesting to me that we can have people trying to lead us but they don’t want to let us know what is happening with our education."

Allen said he is upset because students’ questions and opinions were shrugged off by the administration.

"My biggest frustration is the fact that we weren’t allowed to ask questions," he said.